They Called Them Spirit Bells
by Omnicat
Summary: Spira has its fair share of superstitions. Also, Tidus likes-likes Yuna. Trufax.


**Title:** They Called Them Spirit Bells

**Author:** Omnicat

**Unofficially Adapted From:** Square Enix's _Final Fantasy X_.

**Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge:** Up through the Kilika Island part.

**Warnings:** None.

**Characters & Pairings:** Tidus x Yuna

**Summary:** Spira has its fair share of superstitions. (Also, Tidus likes-likes Yuna. Trufax.)

**Author's Note:** If the worldbuilding in this contradicts canon in any way, I blame the fact that I'm such a lousy gamer and can't for the life of me finish the game. I am forced to rely on walkthroughs for a lot of things. Please forgive me.

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**They Called Them Spirit Bells**

Yuna's dance was over; the spirits of Sin's victims had passed to the Farplane. Tidus knew they were supposed to be gone, but they seemed to linger in the corners of his eyes, drifting around like the light that reflected off of the water, or swaying like flowers. The horrific beauty of it wouldn't leave him.

He had never seen anything like it in Zanarkand. Lingering spirits, unable to move on by themselves... Thinking about it made him feel like his bones turned to ice and his heart was ripped from his chest. Had the world really changed that much in a thousand years? Had Sin caused such a dreadful, unnatural situation?

It wouldn't surprise him. After all, Sin was the reason he was here in the first place.

Something caught his eye. For a moment it was another one of those spirits that had nestled between his ears, but when he turned his head this time, the source of the glistening was right there. He bent down and carefully pried the little bells from a mess of splintered walkway boards. It looked like a charm; strings of beads, a big, flat shell, two yellow metal bells, and a frayed strip of faded symbols.

"Hey," Yuna's voice said behind him. Tidus shook off his gloomy thoughts and smiled at her as she came up to him. "What do you have there?"

He held the bundle out to her; Yuna's face fell. "Oh."

Tidus bit the inside of his cheek to dispel the pearly lights he saw in the swirls of her skirt. "I was just thinking I'd ask you what it might be. Looks like you know."

"Where did you find that?"

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, at the pile of rubble. It wasn't the only one around, and he wasn't the only person rummaging around for salvageables.

Yuna didn't look at him as she took the charm and fingered the little bells. "We call them spirit bells." she said softly. "People hang them over their doors, believing that they'll ring when the fiend is near. And when the fiend was once someone they cared about, the spell is supposed to - to remind them of their loved ones, and persuade them not to attack."

Suddenly feeling chilly, Tidus rubbed his arms and looked out over the sea, squeezing his eyes against the glare of the setting sun until they were shut. "Do you think they work?"

"I know they don't." She sighed. "Not even a Summoner can tell where or when a fiend will appear, let alone..." Another sigh. "But the people need something to keep their feelings of fear and hopelessness at bay. Summoners live busy lives these days; we can't always be there to soothe people's hearts and minds when elsewhere fiends could forming or attacking."

"I guess you're right." His voice, too, had dropped to a whisper. He wished he could fool himself and think none of this was really happening. Yuna's Summoner duties seemed to become heavier with each new thing he learned about Spira, and there was so little he could do to alleviate her burden.

"Do you want it?" she asked, pulling him from his reverie. He stared at the charm she held out to him for a moment, then caught her eye and her hand. The place where she'd danced wasn't far off. When he shaded his eyes he could just make out the last two cocoons (he couldn't bring himself to think about them as body bags), drifting away ever so slowly on the undercurrent.

"Let's throw it away." he proposed. "As far as we can. Show Sin what he's got coming."

Yuna's smile was slow to form, but it was enough to chase away his chills and warm him from top to toe.

By the time they managed to throw the spirit bells with their hands clasped together, they were laughing again.

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**PSAN:** Hope you liked it! ^_^


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